Carrot Cake by Bread & Roses

Let us adopt our best British accent and take a look at one of the most traditional cakes brought to us from accross the Channel: the Carrot Cake. What originated as a a modest cake which used carrots as a sweeter, has today become a dessert of choice for those idle hours of the afternoon. We chose to test the Carrot Cake from the Parisian pastry shop and traiteur Bread and Roses, and we reveal its secrets in our report.

The cake’s decoration is rather unusual and imaginative: the candied vanilla carrot petals are a delight to look at, with the single caramelized pistachio also contributing to this floral design. Beneath the decoration, we find a traditionnal vanilla cream cheese icing, and a tall cake split in two horizontally, with a second dose of icing sandwiched between the two cake layers.

The individual Carrot Cake by Bread and Roses has a diameter of 78 mm and a height of 63 mm, pistachio excluded. The specimen we purchased weights 206 grams and costs 6 euros.

The carrot petals on the surface are very thin and have the texture of cooked carrots. They are fairly sweet, but lack a distinct vanilla taste, despite the presence of minute black seeds indicating the presence of vanilla. The cream cheese frosting, on the other hand, has a deep vanilla flavor, but without the slight tart tinge we find in some carrot cakes. It pairs very well with the candied carrots. The cake dough seems lacking in spices, despite the strong scent of cinnamon. It contains neither nuts nor variations in texture, and seems to us too homogenous and lacking in airiness. While we certainly appreciate the fact that it is moist, soft and not overly sweet, we find its slight taste of raw dough regrettable.

VERDICT

All in all, we believe there is room for improving this Carrot Cake by Bread & Roses. For example, a very discrete acidic note could be brought to the icing with a touch of lemon. This would bring some contrast to the cake dough, which should be much richer in textures and flavors. This version of the carrot cake is quite good, yet fails to seduce us completely.